WD Blue SN550 1TB vs WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB - which drive to buy?

[OZJZERO]

I currently have 1TB storage mechanical HDD in my PC but it's so loud that I've decided it's time to replace to go fully SSD in my system.

 

So far these appear to be the cheapest I've seen so far, but I don't know which drive to go for, the SN550 (£91) or the WD 3D NAND (£82).

 

 

[Deli]

I suppose the latter one is a Sata drive. If your motherboard M.2 slot accepts NVMe drive. take the SN550. Although in most cases, they're pretty similar for many of the common daily tasks.

[boggy77]

sn550

[mariushm]

SN550 uses 96 layer TLC , WD Blue probably uses 64 layer TLC ... it doesn't matter to a regular user. 

 

The cheaper drive is most likely SATA only (you need a m.2 connector with SATA option, most have sata option) or it's proper 2.5" SATA drive. 

 

If you have a nvme m.2 connector, it's worth paying a bit more for the SN550. 

[OZJZERO]

1 hour ago, mariushm said:

SN550 uses 96 layer TLC , WD Blue probably uses 64 layer TLC ... it doesn't matter to a regular user. 

 

The cheaper drive is most likely SATA only (you need a m.2 connector with SATA option, most have sata option) or it's proper 2.5" SATA drive. 

 

If you have a nvme m.2 connector, it's worth paying a bit more for the SN550. 

What is the significance of the layers?

 

I don't mind the SATA v NVME, just using it as a storage drive for movies and games.

[mariushm]

2 hours ago, OZJZERO said:

What is the significance of the layers?

 

 

It's just a different way of making the Flash memory chip that holds the data. 

Think of layers as shelves where data is put.

So for example, you can have a 96 layer 1 TB chip (each layer holds around 12 GB of information) or you can have 2 x  64 layer 512 GB ( 8 GB per layer) chips ... for you, it makes no difference, as you get the same 1 TB of data stored, but for manufacturer it's a cost difference.

 

The 96 layer chips are more modern process, a bit more expensive to make but worth it for manufacturer because they can use a single chip instead of two so they save money, and the ssd controller can use more layers in parallel to read or write data faster (so you get higher speeds). It also opens the doors to making bigger capacity SSDs, like 2-4 TB, which was harder with smaller capacity chips.

The 64 layer chips are older generation, cheaper now, slower yet still fast enough to not limit a SATA ssd... as  the SATA capabilities (550 MB/s) are low.